SEVERODONETSK, Ukraine — Thunderous blasts echoed across Ukraine’s eastern battle zone and in its capital Friday as Russia intensified its attacks and experts predicted it could soon take control of the embattled port city of Mariupol, a crucial prize that would help it consolidate territorial gains.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the targets included a factory in Kyiv that made and repaired Ukrainian missiles. The capital, which was heavily bombarded at the outset of the war, had enjoyed a period of relative calm after Russian forces broke off an offensive in Ukraine’s north at the beginning of this month.
The renewed attacks came a day after Russia was humiliated by the sinking of its most important warship in the Black Sea and were widely seen as a prelude to a massive onslaught in the industrial eastern heartland known as the Donbas.
